Степанян Դավիթ Stepanyan Ստեփանյան David Давид

Do you
expect the state policy against the internationally funded NGOs in Azerbaijan
to be toughened even more?

Everything
that can be done for destroying the civil society network in Azerbaijan has
already been done. The
civil society of Azerbaijan
lags behind the civil societies in the other South
Caucasus countries. The dissidents are paralyzed. Some of them are
outside the country, while others are imprisoned or cannot act due to the
shortage of financing. It is almost impossible to receive financial assistance
from the West, because the relevant procedure has not been adopted so far and
the donors have suspended their activities in Azerbaijan. The authorities promise
to gradually normalize the legislation related to western grants. No one knows
how long it will take or whether the US
donors involved in "color revolutions" will be able to return to Azerbaijan.
It is a big question.

How do you think the parliamentary
election results will affect Azerbaijan’s
relations with the European Union countries and the United States?

Naturally,
the elections in Azerbaijan
were held with many shortcomings that are unlikely to please the international
institutions in the United States
and Europe, given that all these structures
have certain standards for elections in the countries they cooperate with.
Therefore, their attitude to the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan is
far from being unambiguous. But I would not say that the elections are of big
importance to establishment of relations with the country, especially as we
have heard rather weak criticism from some important institutions: US
Department of State, European Union, Council of Europe, etc. Only a few
international organizations - for instance, the Human Rights House Network -
have criticized the election results, calling them 'illegitimate'. I think the
election results in Azerbaijan
are paling into insignificance amid the tense geopolitical situation in the
region. It is very important for Europe and the United
States that Azerbaijan
- as a link in the South Caucasus - should not fall into the trap of Russia and
should perform its role, helping the Iranian economy integrate with the
European market.

The deterioration of relations with
the West has to a certain extent turned Baku’s
foreign policy towards the north. What do you think of such trends?

Moscow keeps a
wary eye on the developments in Azerbaijan.
Moreover, Russian politicians and analysts emerge in our media outlets even
more often than our own analysts. The Russian politicians do not even hide
their joy over the fact that the Azerbaijan-West relations are deteriorating
with every passing day and they even contribute to that process in every
possible way. At the same time, they demonstrate loyalty to the domestic
political processes in Azerbaijan.
Unlike western countries, they do not criticize the leadership's actions
against the opposition and the civil society. Nevertheless, possible accession
of Azerbaijan to the
Eurasian Economic Union does not meet Azerbaijan's interests and causes
many people's concern. I think hardly anyone likes the idea of Azerbaijan’s turn towards Russia. More
preference is given to the neutrality of the country. Time will show how Baku will manage to do
it.

What can you say about the statement
of Chief of the Turkish Armed Forces General Staff Hulusi Akar about Turkey’s willingness “to liberate the
territories of Azerbaijan
from occupation”?

Turkey
has made quite interesting steps amid the tension on the border. In particular,
many analysts have qualified the joint air force exercises with Azerbaijan as
promotion of bilateral military cooperation. The hope that Turkey is able to provide military support to Azerbaijan if Baku has to resolve the Karabakh conflict in
the military way is growing. Turkey
always expresses willingness to render political support to Azerbaijan in
the Karabakh peace process, but any opinion about military support is expressed
carefully. In this light, I think that the statement of the Turkish Armed
Forces General Staff Chief Hulusi Akar about the support to Azerbaijan is
most likely of political nature. It does not mean that Turkey is ready to take the side of Azerbaijan in the war against Armenia.

Can the
parliamentary election results in Turkey
affect the relations with Azerbaijan?

The
parliamentary election results in Turkey
can affect the relations with Azerbaijan
only in case the Turkish government is changed. To achieve constitutional
changes, Recep Erdogan should have stable partners. Azerbaijan
and some countries of Central Asia can perform
this role very well. Therefore, having won the elections and having received
the right to form the Cabinet, Erdogan's party seeks to deepen the bilateral
relations with Azerbaijan.
Thus, given Azerbaijan's
significance for Turkey,
Davutoglu's government is likely to retain the previous political course in
relations with Azerbaijan.

How do you assess the prospects of
Iranian-Azerbaijani relations given that Tehran’s
role and capacities are growing following the Iranian nuclear deal?

In
case the sanctions against Iran
are lifted, Tehran
will have a wide field for maneuvering in economic and political areas. New
economic channels with the western countries will open and the foreign trade
turnover will grow, giving a fresh impetus to the trade relations between Iran and Azerbaijan. Iran, in turn, will get additional bonuses in
the fight against the Islamic State and will intensify the control over
terrorism in neighboring Syria.
This means that Azerbaijan
- as a Shiite country - finds an ally in the anti-ISIS fight. Given Iran's return to the active global politics,
such alliance will bring quite many benefits to Azerbaijan.